State Wrestling Results!
Bergfield and Haas Medal in Omaha
The Bobcats of Gordon Karney made a successful trip to Omaha's Qwest Center in February, where all four wrestlers, 119 Pounder Aaron Jespersen, 125 Pounder Jose Campos, 189 Pounder Michael Bergfield, and 215 Pounder Joe Bob Haas, all tasted victory at the big show.
Jespersen and Campos lost early matches, but the sophomores each rebounded with wins. After coming to Omaha twice in their first two years, placing in the next two years seems a real possibility.Campos came close to medaling, losing in overtime in the consolations.
Seniors Bergfield and Haas each made a run at hardware, with each winning several matches. Bergfield lost just to the third place finisher and the eventual state Champion in overtime. Bergfield finished a great season with over 30 victories and a 5th place State medal!
Haas finished with 125 career victories, winning his second straight fourth place medal. He also lost an overtime match.
For Coaches Karney and Weber, the 20th place finish out of all the teams in Class D was a good one, but a few different points here and there and the Cats would have finished even higher. To help the team's success in the future, additional numbers are needed, with only 6-9 wrestlers able to compete this year in 14 slots.
Thanks to all of the mothers that kept the wrestlers clean and well fed. Thanks to all of the fans for their great support, and thanks to the wrestlers themselves for the many hours of training and practicing!!
Coach Karney's Notes on the State Tourney and the Entire Season:
Bobcat Wrestlers Wrap Up Season with Two Medals at State
The Hemingford wrestling team has once again returned from the state tournament with state medals. The result is very similar to last year when the squad qualified four wrestlers for state and brought home two fourth place medals. This year we qualified four wrestlers and our two medallists are Michael Bergfield, 5th at 189 pounds and Joe Bob Haas, 4th at 215 pounds. Michael’s state win/ loss record was 4-2 and Joe Bob’s record was 3-2. Hemingford’s other two wrestlers Aaron Jespersen and Jose Campos both had one win and two losses.
Wrapping up the season:
at 119 Aaron Jespersen finished with a 28-12 record. Aaron had a good season considering he spent much of the season battling with illness and it wasn’t until the last part of the season that he finally got a handle on his health problems and started coming on strong. We are expecting great things from Aaron in the future.
At 125 Jose Campos finished the season with a 32-9 record. Jose wrestled real well this year. His losses were to powerhouse wrestlers. An example of this is the wrestler who gave Jose his first loss at state went on to become the state champion. Both Jose and Aaron have indicated they plan on going to wrestling camps again this summer so we’re excited about their prospects next year.
At 130 Adam Jensen finished up the season with a 20-12 record. Adam had a pretty good year; many of his losses were at the 135-pound weight class. He missed qualifying for state by one match. He is a senior this year and we will miss him.
At 140 Zane Jaramallo finished the year with a 3-13 record. Zane just couldn’t seem to put it together this year. Despite having a tough season Zane kept coming back week after week and competing for the team. We hope next year works out better for him.
At 152 Brandon Roland also had a tough year. He finished the season with a 3-21 record and couldn’t quite put it all together. To his credit he made it to practices and did his best at the tournaments. We hope next year both Brandon and Zane pick up the tempo and get more wins under their belts. We would like to take them to state.
At 189 JV Tanner Lembke finished the season with a 2-4 record. Tanner had to quit the season early due to injuries and we hope he will return next year to fill the 189 pound opening created by, graduating senior, Michael Bergfield.
At 189 Michael Bergfield finished the year with a 35-7 record. Michael has had a tough high school career; every year, with exception of his freshman year in which he qualified, he did not make it to state due to injuries. I have no doubt that if he had made it to state those other years he would have had other state medals to add to his fifth place finish this year. Michael is a fine wrestler and we will miss having him on our team next year.
At 215 Joe Bob Haas finished the year with a 29-4 record. Joe Bob had a slow start this season; he was not allowed to participate in practice or tournaments for the first four weeks due to illness. He came back strong and finished the year with a fourth at state. Joe Bob has been a strong competitor throughout his high school career. He is a four time state qualifier and a two time state medalist. It would be and understatement to say he will be missed in the wrestling room.
As a team we finished the year with a 152-87 record. All in all it was a good season. We will miss the three graduating seniors and wish them the best in their future endeavors. We also look foreword to next year and working with the returning wrestlers as well as the freshmen who will be coming on board.
2009 State Wrestling
Micki Messersmithmesser@rushmore.comRapid CityTeacher | Feb 25, 2009 | Congratulations guys! |